Jacques-Yves Cousteau (fr. Jacques-Yves Cousteau). Born June 11, 1910 in Saint-André-de-Cubzac, Bordeaux, France - died June 25, 1997 in Paris. French explorer of the oceans, photographer, director, inventor, author of many books and films. He was a member of the French Academy. Commander of the Order of the Legion of Honor. Known as Captain Cousteau (fr. Commandant Cousteau). Together with Emil Gagnan in 1943, he developed and tested a scuba gear.

Jacques-Yves Cousteau was born in the small town of Saint-André-de-Cubzac in the Bordeaux wine region, the son of a lawyer, Daniel and Elisabeth Cousteau.

His father Daniel Cousteau (23 Oct. 1878-1969) was the second of four children of a notary from Saint-André-de-Cubzac, at birth recorded under the double name Pierre-Daniel. A wealthy notary managed to give his son a good upbringing and education. Daniel studied law in Paris, becoming the youngest doctor of law in France. He worked in the United States as the private secretary of the wealthy entrepreneur and Francophile James Hazen Hyde. Married Elizabeth Duranton (Duranthon; b. 21 Nov. 1878), daughter of a pharmacist from his hometown; the family settled in the 17th arrondissement of Paris at 12, Lane Doisy. On March 18, 1906, their first child, Pierre-Antoine, was born. Four years later, Jacques-Yves was born at his grandfather's house in Saint-André-de-Cubzac. Daniel's family traveled a lot.

Jacques-Yves became interested in water in early age. At the age of 7 he was diagnosed with chronic enteritis, so the family doctor did not recommend heavy loads. Due to illness, Cousteau became very thin. During the First World War, Daniel Cousteau became unemployed, but after the war he again found work in the company of the American Eugene Higgins. He had to travel a lot on business, his sons went to school and spent most of the year in a boarding school. Cousteau learned to swim early and fell in love with the sea for the rest of his life.

In 1920, Eugene Higgins returned to New York, the Cousteau family following him. Jacques-Yves and Pierre-Antoine went to school in the US and learned to speak English fluently. There, during family vacation in Vermont, the brothers made their first dives. In 1922 Higgins and the Cousteau family returned to France. In the US, Jacques-Yves became interested in mechanics and design. In France, he built a battery-powered car. This passion helped him in his work in the future. With the money saved and earned, Cousteau bought himself his first movie camera.

Although Jacques-Yves was interested in many things, study was not given to him. After some time, his parents decided to send him to a special boarding school, which he graduated with honors.

In 1930 he entered the Naval Academy. He was twenty-second, moreover, the group in which he studied was the first to sail around the world on the ship Joan of Arc.

military academy he graduated with the rank of ensign, by distribution he was sent to a naval base in Shanghai, he also visited the USSR, where he photographed a lot, but almost all materials were seized. Cousteau decided to go to the Academy naval aviation, he was attracted by the sky, but after a car accident on a mountain road, aviation had to be abandoned. Cousteau broke several ribs and fingers on his left hand, damaged his lungs, and became paralyzed. right hand. The rehabilitation course took eight months. To restore in 1936, he entered the instructor on the cruiser "Sufren", assigned to the port of Toulon. One day he went to the store and saw diving goggles. Diving with them, he realized that from now on his life undividedly belongs to the underwater kingdom.

In 1937 he married Simone Melchior, who bore him two sons, Jean-Michel (1938) and Philippe (1940-1979, died in the Catalina plane crash). During World War II, he was a member of the French resistance movement.

According to his first book, "In the World of Silence", Cousteau began diving using a mask, snorkel and fins with Frédéric Dumas and Philippe Taglier in 1938. In 1943 he tested the first prototype scuba, developed by him together with Emil Gagnan. This made it possible for the first time to conduct long-term underwater research, which greatly contributed to the improvement modern knowledge about the underwater world. Cousteau became the creator of waterproof cameras and lighting devices, as well as invented the first underwater television system.

Before it became known about the ability of porpoises to echolocation, Cousteau suggested the possibility of its existence. In his first book, In the World of Silence, he reported that his research vessel, the Élie Monier, was heading towards the Straits of Gibraltar and noticed a group of pigs following them. Cousteau changed the course of the vessel a few degrees from the optimum, and the pigs followed the ship for some time, and then swam to the center of the strait. It was obvious that they knew where the optimal course lay, even if the people didn't. Cousteau concluded that cetaceans had something like sonar, which at that time was a relatively new element in submarines. He turned out to be right.

From the early 1950s, Cousteau conducted oceanographic research with the help of the Calypso (a decommissioned minesweeper of the British Royal Navy). Recognition came to Cousteau with the release of the book "In the world of silence" in 1953, co-authored with Frederic Dumas. The film, based on the book, won the Oscar and the Palme d'Or in 1956.

In 1957, Cousteau was appointed director of the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco. In 1973 he founded the non-profit "Cousteau Society" for the protection of the marine environment.

In 1991, a year after his wife Simone's death from cancer, he married Francine Triplet. By that time, they already had a daughter, Diana (1979) and a son, Pierre (1981), born before marriage.

Cousteau died at the age of 87 from a myocardial infarction as a result of a complication of a respiratory disease. He was buried in the family plot in the Saint-André-de-Cubzac cemetery.


June 11, 1910 in Saint-André-de-Cubzac, in the French region of Bordeaux, was born one of the most prominent Citizens of the Ocean - Jacques Yves Cousteau

This extraordinary man always wanted to keep a secret most of his life in general, and his work in particular. In fact, in all his actions, public or not, there were two sides - visible and hidden. It was relatively easy to reconstruct the course of his life, compose his biography and present a catalog of his discoveries and works, and, on the contrary, in most cases it was quite difficult to understand why he decided to participate in this or that enterprise, to move in the chosen direction. The task was complicated by the fact that he practically did not discuss the strategy and tactics of his actions with anyone, even with the people closest to him. He was "pasha", " charismatic leader", and he said: "We will go there," - and all the others obeyed faithfully and obediently.

His father Daniel worked as a private secretary for two Americans. The first was an insurance agent, the second was an entrepreneur. His mother, Elizabeth Duranton, was the daughter of a local apothecary. Because of official duties father's family moved a lot from place to place and quite often lived in the United States, where Jacques Yves studied in one of the private educational institutions New York.

When it was time to return to France, Cousteau was 13 years old. His father bought a movie camera to shoot family entertainment, but once it fell into the hands of Jacques, he became the sole owner of it. This was the beginning of a real passion: Jacques created "real films", built scenery, filmed and even developed the film himself. He soon formed his first motion picture society, Film Zix, Jacques Cousteau.

The study, which he continued in France, was not marked by particular success. Domestic teaching methods were too different from American ones, and only within the walls of the Jesuit College in Paris, Cousteau began to take classes seriously. He received his bachelor's degree in 1930 - at the age of 20, passed the entrance exams to the Higher National Naval School and was accepted there with good results. In 1933, he was assigned to the cruiser Primoge, bound for the Middle East, and even then his comrades noted Cousteau's tendency to speak about himself in a somewhat strange way, as well as his desire for isolation and loneliness.

In 1936, he asked for an assignment to the Naval Aviation and obtained a transfer. In the same year, fascinated by cars and high speeds, he took his father's sports car for a ride and had an accident. Its consequences were truly terrifying for Jacques Yves Cousteau. Many of his ribs were broken, his vertebrae were displaced, his lung was pierced, and his arms were paralyzed. The career of lieutenant of naval aviation Cousteau was over, and only his exceptional willpower, the character of a fighter allowed him to leave the hospital in less than a year. Cousteau was weak, but he stood on his own feet and confidently wielded both hands. He was also in love. Simone Melchior became his happy chosen one. Her mother was the daughter of Admiral Jean Baem, passionate about underwater exploration, the organizer of an expedition to Tunisia, to Mahdia. The will of chance manifested itself in the fact that 12 years later, Jacques Yves Cousteau returned to the same region on a ship to carry out underwater work.

Cousteau was assigned to Suffren and then to Codercel, assigned to the naval base at Toulon. In July 1937, naval lieutenant Jacques-Yves Cousteau married Simone Melchior in Paris and the young family settled down to live in Toulon. Simone was a charming young woman, an exemplary officer's wife, and attracted the attention of all who knew her, and especially those who later came aboard the Calypso.

At the same time, an outstanding person was in Toulon, a naval officer of a higher rank than Jacques Yves Cousteau, a poet, humanist and great sports lover, in love with the sea. He devoted all his time outside of service to the sea, and he spent most of his free time spearfishing in the waters of the Var department, in southern France. His name was Philippe Taye. His inseparable spearfishing friend was named Frederic Dumas, and it was he who later became the legendary Didi. In his book Free Dives (Plongees sans cables), Philippe Taillet later described the character of Jacques Yves Cousteau quite impartially. They met one day in 1938 and Philippe Thayet became Cousteau's freediving godfather. The equipment at that time was the simplest and was limited to a pair of glasses (the so-called Fernez), by the way, very uncomfortable.

Jacques-Yves Cousteau was shocked, his whole life turned upside down at that moment, and he decided to devote it entirely to penetration into undersea world. Philippe Taye, Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Didi never parted again. Together they made dives, tried to adapt the systems that existed at that time for breathing underwater. Such, for example, as the spacesuit of Captain Le Prieur. Jacques Yves Cousteau's father-in-law, Henri Melchior, worked for the I Air Luquide company in Paris, where they studied and developed materials and equipment used for various types of gases. His support was invaluable to the three friends.

In September 1939, Jacques-Yves Cousteau was assigned as a gunner to the cruiser Duprelx, where he served until June 1940, the date of the armistice between France and Germany. As for Philippe Tayet, he served on the destroyer Valmy, while Didi was a muleteer in Northern Provence.

In early 1941, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, on the orders of the Vichy government, participated in a successful raid on the Italian representation in Sète in order to obtain secret military fonts. For this operation, he was awarded the Legion of Honor in 1946. Cousteau's participation in this operation was largely due to the position of his older brother Pierre Antoine. With all this, Jacques-Yves Cousteau never left the passion for cinema. With the help of one of his friends, Vesha, he built a 35mm camera, placed it in a waterproof box, and after several failed attempts he managed to make surveys of the seabed at a depth of about 20 meters.

After the sinking of the French fleet at Toulon in November 1942, Jacques-Yves Cousteau and his friends were left without their ships and practically without work. They returned to their underwater hobbies and began editing the episodes filmed earlier. The result of this work was the 18-minute film "18 meters under water". This film was first presented to the public on April 10, 1943 in Paris at the National Theater of Chaillot, as part of a screening organized by the then French authorities under the control of the propaganda department occupation authorities. Jacques-Yves Cousteau was introduced as the film's director and received a warm welcome, especially in the pages of I'm Everywhere, a collaborationist publication edited by Pierre Antoine Cousteau. As a result of this show, and again thanks to the help of his older brother, Jacques-Yves Cousteau received permission from the occupation authorities for favorable conditions for filming, including permission to shoot in the militarized zone of the Mediterranean coast. In addition, he had the opportunity to receive film, which was strictly limited at that time. In 1942, Jacques-Yves Cousteau created his first film production company, Cousteau's Science Film Studio, before organizing Sharks United, which later released a large part of his films. It can be said with full confidence that it was at this time that Captain Cousteau's Odyssey began.

The project enjoyed an unusually rapid take-off thanks to a meeting brokered by Henri Melchior's father-in-law between Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Émile Gagnan, an engineer at I Air liquide. Jacques-Yves Cousteau outlined his wishes regarding equipment to ensure the supply of air during diving. Engineer Emil Gagnan was working at that time on a prototype gearbox for a motor running on a gas mixture. He assembled such an apparatus and conducted a series of tests on the Marne near Paris in 1943. Not too satisfied with the first results, Emile Gagnan modified the apparatus, and in June 1943 the model, tested at sea, proved to be excellent in operation.

Three friends united again, but this time at the insistence of Jacques-Yves Cousteau. They were going to start filming again without any special restrictions thanks to a sufficient amount of film and passes provided with the participation of Pierre Antoine Cousteau. The footage they shot became the basis of the film "The Remains of Sunken Ships". Among other places, shooting was also carried out among the sunken ships that lined the bottom of the Toulon raid.

After the liberation of France in 1945, officers Philippe Taillet and Jacques Yves Cousteau returned to maritime service. They were looking for jobs that would match their professionalism and technical training in the field of underwater work, and they were asked to develop and implement a program to clear the mines of the Toulon road. Friends undertook this dangerous assignment. They created on the basis navy specialized structure G. E. R. S. (underwater research and search group), which was led by Captain Theis. Later, they found a reason for officially accepting the "mule driver" Dumas into their ranks.

In 1947, G. E. R. S. received her own ship, the Engineer Elie Monnier. The Department of the Navy provided the G.E.R.S. funds for the work of Jacques-Yves Cousteau. It agreed to support the resumption of archaeological excavations in Mahdia at a depth of more than 30 meters in difficult diving conditions. The ministry also proposed to continue experimental work on the creation of a deep-sea diving apparatus by the Swiss professor Picard near Dakar. This last experience was unsuccessful, and strongly reflected on Cousteau, but it allowed him to learn an unforgettable lesson for the future.

The promotion in the rank of officer obliged Cousteau to change his position, and this prospect did not please him at all, as it forced him to leave the underwater activity begun under the G.E.R.S. However, he was a candidate for several positions at once. Thanks to one of them, he could become a leader new program development of the bathyscaphe. Cousteau decided to ask for a special status for himself, and his request was granted, after which Jacques Yves Cousteau strove to achieve independence at all costs in order to do what he himself wanted without guardianship and coercion. That is why he wanted to be able to dispose of the huge economic potential that underwater developments had at that time thanks to “his” Cousteau / Ganyan gearbox, commercialized by Spiroteknik, a subsidiary of Air Liquide.

Later, the controlling company Aqua Lang International brought together more than 20 perfect different companies, successfully manufactured and sold diving equipment under various brands around the world. This company provided a trade turnover of about a billion French francs, of which Jacques Yves Cousteau received 5 percent as the author of a patented invention.

Jacques-Yves Cousteau sought complete independence in order to try to realize his wildest ideas - to be the first and most ambitious explorer of the underwater world, to create and bring to perfection Technical equipment, which would meet specific requirements in the present and future. He did not want any guardianship, he wanted to personally determine the goal in order to independently use the results of the work done. To do this, he needs his own ship. Cousteau really liked the old minesweeper that belonged to the Royal British Navy, which he saw in Malta and which bore the fateful name "Calypso". But Cousteau did not have the funds to buy the ship. The well-known beer manufacturer Guinness became a patron of the arts, it was he who contributed most of the required amount, while the rest of the potential contributors participated in the costs: the association "French Oceanographic Societies", created by Jacques Yves Cousteau specifically for this occasion, made a historic purchase, which took place in July 1950 of the year. Jacques Yves Cousteau was 40 at the time.

The re-equipment of Calypso lasted a whole year. The most important of the ship's technical innovations was the device under the bow, about 2 meters below the waterline. It was a special cabin for underwater observation. It had the shape of a sphere in which special windows were installed. Jacques-Yves Cousteau was willing to lay down body and soul in order to obtain the necessary subsidies for his first expedition to the Red Sea. The French Navy seconded two mechanics and one sailor aboard the Calypso. All other crew members were volunteers, as was Simone Cousteau, who was appointed commissioner of the ship. Frédéric Dumas was on board as assistant dive officer. Volcanologist A. Tazieff also participated in the trip on a voluntary basis and, together with the others, carried out necessary work on board, grumbling and cursing.

Three months later, the expedition returned, and a man later named the legendary Beber, Bernard Falco, boarded the Calypso. He left the ship only in 1996, during his crash off the coast of Hong Kong. In the same year, Cousteau became seriously interested in stories about amphora shards and various objects that were often found by fishermen casting their nets opposite Marseille, in the Grand Congluet area, from the Frioul Islands. Having received the necessary information, he decided to take over what became the first and greatest underwater archaeological construction site. Cousteau did not finish it, leaving this concern to the passionate enthusiast Yves Giraud, who from the very beginning participated in all the works. More than 2,000 amphoras and other items were raised to the surface. Some critics said that the excavations were carried out without any method and without special training, but these statements, formulated by later titled archaeologists, did not take into account the myriad difficulties of deep diving in difficult terrain, in sometimes quite harsh seas. On the other hand, it was extremely difficult to ensure the successful interaction of people and especially machines and equipment, including pumps that pump out sand and mud, which are inconvenient and dangerous to manage, especially since they were often used at a depth of about 50-60 meters.

Jacques-Yves Cousteau used his genius abilities, which were later honed to perfection, in working with the media. The press and television all over the world reported on the construction at Grand Congluet, and National Geographic devoted a long article to it, which made Cousteau famous in English-speaking countries.

And at the same time, more advanced equipment for underwater filming was being created. First of all, thanks to Professor Edgerton, the inventor of the electronic flash, and the brilliant engineer Laban, the author of cameras for filming. The most famous industrial firms sought participation in this technological breakthrough and willingly made capital investments. However, the hectic activity came at a high cost, and Jacques-Yves Cousteau was forced to turn to solving less spectacular but more profitable problems. Offshore oil was in vogue, and its developers urgently needed trained teams to operate effectively. Starting work in this area, Cousteau created the French underwater research company 1OFRS (1 Office Francais de Recherches Sous marines), which entered into contracts with oil companies and allowed Cousteau to take a short break before shooting a feature film. The idea of ​​the picture has long matured in his head, it should have the same name as the book written by him together with F. Dumas in 1953 - "The World of Silence", which was a huge success all over the world, finally establishing the fame of Jacques Yves Cousteau .

At the same time, Cousteau took part in the experimental dives of the Trieste bathyscaphe by Professor Picard, forgetting the failures of 1948. The device successfully dived to a depth of 3200 meters with the professor and his son on board. During this operation, the command of the French Navy asked him to provide underwater surveys. Cousteau was convinced that his future lay in researching the technique of human penetration into the underwater world. Experiments with the "Precontinent" were carried out to prove this.

In 1954, Jacques-Yves Cousteau went to the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. On board the Calypso was also a young cinematographer, Louis Malle. Cousteau introduced him to diving, and the young man filmed a documentary series, which was later successfully shown to millions of viewers. Cousteau had already realized that television was the medium of the future, bringing the image into homes faster than potential viewers could get to the movies. This series greatly increased its American audience and was produced by a new society founded by Jacques Yves Cousteau, Les Requins Associes.

At the beginning of 1955, everyone gathered aboard the Calypso for the great sailing, heading for the Red Sea. The shooting of "The World of Silence" has begun, which has become a cult film for all those who are in love with the underwater world. The Red Sea was filmed, then the Indian Ocean, Seychelles with excerpts from Jojo le Merou, followed by numerous filming around the world in places unknown at the time.

The film was edited and presented on an extraordinary scale in Paris in February 1956 at the theater on the Champs Elysées. All kinds of celebrities were invited, the president of the republic, the chairmen of both houses of parliament, representatives of the constitutional authorities, as well as ambassadors of more than 30 countries were present. The National Navy provided a guard of honor to the accompaniment of naval marches. The triumph of the film is unimaginable, the audience applauded standing for more than half an hour. Newspapers, radio and television called the film the work of the century.

The film was selected for screening at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Palme d'Or for the first time in the documentary category. In New York, the film received a similarly phenomenal reception. In 1957 he was awarded an Oscar, and in next year another film by Jacques Yves Cousteau, The Story of a Red Fish, received another prize at the Cannes Film Festival and another Oscar in Hollywood. This confirmed that the success of his work was not accidental. Jacques Yves Cousteau managed throughout his life to maintain the halo of glory that "The World of Silence" brought him. And he made full use of all the opportunities provided by the media.

In 1957, Prince Rainier of Monaco invited Cousteau to become director of the Oceanographic Museum of the Principality. He accepted the offer, and this suited both parties: the state took advantage of the cinematic fame of the researcher Cousteau, and Jacques Yves could congratulate himself on his appointment to a scientific position. In fact, he never called himself a scientist, but acted and behaved as if he were one. It is enough to listen to his speeches and comments in copyright films to be convinced of this. This state of affairs somewhat annoyed some real scientists, but they did not have such practical underwater experience as Cousteau.

Being Cousteau at the head of the Oceanographic Museum had little effect on the activities of this organization. Jacques Yves could not often be found in his office, he sacredly observed the condition set upon appointment to the post - to retain freedom of action in everything related to the rest of his activities. He gave the opportunity to replace himself to Jean Alin, and then to Philip Rowe, allowing them to solve current issues. But he never delegated authority to resolve fundamental problems. Cousteau left his post only in 1989, 32 years after he settled in the principality.

In 1957, in between filming, Cousteau experimented with the first draft of the "diving saucer", he tested the apparatus at great (about 2000 meters) depths. A year later, the researcher accepted a number of proposals for organizing new work for the OFRS requiring diving to great depths. First of all, he studied the possibility of laying an oil pipeline. Already since 1959, the "diving saucer" has become a great help in the implementation of underwater projects.


The year 1960 brought bountiful income to Cousteau, which made it possible to finance the multifaceted activities of Cousteau's subordinate companies, while he himself was carried away by an extremely ambitious project that could be dubbed "Underwater Houses". In 1962, Jacques-Yves Cousteau began his legendary experiment to study the full life under water. During Operation Precontinent I, two swimmers Albert Falco and Claude Wesley lived for a week on the high seas off the coast of Marseille in an underwater house at a depth of 10 meters and worked at a depth of 25 meters under water. The results of the work were encouraging, and in 1963 Operation Precontinent II was undertaken in the Red Sea, followed in 1965 by Operation Precontinent III. Five people, among whom were "veterans" of the first "Precontinent", participated in the second experiment and six - in the third. Among them was Philippe Cousteau, the son of Jacques-Yves Cousteau. But he had two sons. The eldest son Jean-Michel became an architect in 1960, and soon completed several sketches for his father. The younger Philip, having received a bachelor's degree in 1961, entered the military service in the French Navy, and after some time - to the Higher Cinematographic Courses. He took an active part in his father's research activities.

Cousteau's experiments made it possible to achieve certain scientific and technical results, to better study the features of the human psyche in a closed space at a depth, but were regarded by the authorities as too expensive. Stopping work greatly disappointed Cousteau.

Another result of the operation "Precontinent III" was the "Oscar" for the film "World Without Sun". The film was not as successful as The World of Silence. Some critics did not fail to reproach the filmmakers for frankly crude stunts, but Cousteau was upset by these reproaches mainly because they knocked out the technical and scientific staff at Calypso. To cope with the difficulties that arose, Cousteau got the French government to conclude a major contract for "carrying out underwater research work new type." "Argyronet" - this is the name given to the figment of the imagination of the engineer of the French Institute of Petroleum (FIN) Pierre Wilm. The project was funded in half by FIN and CNEXO. Having drawn up and approved the initial estimate, they handed over the implementation of Argyronet to CEMA Jacques Yves Cousteau. The scale of the planned work is enormous. They were designed for more than four years. This period was the most difficult for the researcher from a financial point of view. But Cousteau could afford a lot, given his fantastic fame. In 1972, Cousteau left his homeland. In America, he met his youngest son Philip, the owner of his own film studio. The elder Jean-Michel also went with his father. He was responsible for the logistics needed to travel the Calypso around the world.

In the United States, Cousteau had an "alternate airfield". His company, Requins Assoies, had a very important contract with a number of American television programs for five years. In many ways, it was this circumstance that made the face of Jacques Yves Cousteau familiar to viewers all over the world. And above all - thanks to the television series "The Odyssey of Captain Cousteau." He laughed when he heard that he had become a real TV star. He did not care about criticism, whether it came from scientists or from filmmakers. Jacques-Yves Cousteau always wanted to achieve more. It was not enough for him to remain only a researcher and documentary filmmaker, and he seeks to expand his powers.

In 1977, the Cousteau Society was organized in the United States under the guise of a non-profit organization. Its goal was "to protect nature and improve the quality of life", the father became the president of the society, and the son Jean-Michel was appointed vice-president. New York City was chosen as the headquarters. The name Cousteau worked wonders. Contributions were actively received into the society, members of the society received the published works "Calypso Log" and "Dolphin Log". The sale of goods at home was carried out in the American manner - by mail. The success has been enormous, and it is pushing for the creation of branches of the society in Norfolk and in Los Angeles.

In Norfolk, the Cousteau Society wanted to build, with the help of the municipal authorities, an oceanographic park, similar to the one that Jean-Michel and his father had tried to create in Long Beach, but the project ended in complete financial failure and the loss of millions of dollars. But despite a scathing campaign against the project in the local press, he convinced the authorities of his trustworthiness. Unfortunately (or, conversely, fortunately for investors), due to a change in city authorities, this plan was not destined to materialize.

In 1979, Cousteau's youngest son, Philippe, died. He participated in the filming of films with his father, filling the pictures with footage taken from the Catalina seaplane. On June 28, 1979, Philip went to Portugal, to the Rio Tejo delta, to check the quality of the repair of the seaplane, carried out in local workshops. The tests went flawlessly, but during the landing on the water, after the first contact with the surface, the nose of the car suddenly went under the water. The tail of the hydroplane was only flooded with water, the entire crew remained safe and sound, only Philip, who was declared missing, was not on board. His body was never found.

Jacques-Yves Cousteau with his sons Philip and Michel.

The death of his son had a strong impact on Cousteau. The failure of the plan to create a park in Norfolk did not affect the popularity of Jacques Yves Cousteau in the United States. However, in 1981 he returned to his homeland, where he founded the "Cousteau Foundation" with the same structure and the same goals as his older "American brother". The success was almost the same, and this society exists to this day. It was under the auspices of this organization that the first tests of the vessel were carried out on a fundamentally new, revolutionary wind traction - a turbo-sailboat. The society purchased an old catamaran and repaired it. The director of the marine shipyard in Sanary became a loyal associate of Cousteau. Meanwhile, the authors of the turbosail concept L. Malavar, B. Charrier and Jacques Yves Cousteau decided that the catamaran would serve as a reduced model for the Alsion ship. The company developed under the direction of the naval architect Maurice, the designer of the France 3 sailing ship participating in the America's Cup, and the author of the initial conversions to the Calypso. The small ship was given the name "Windmill". In late 1983, she set out on her maiden voyage across the Atlantic, where she was caught in a very violent storm, losing her mast and sail. But Jacques Yves did not despair. He contacted the investors and resumed the venture with a vengeance. Alsion was ready in 1985, crossed the Atlantic in the spring and made a splash with its handling and economy. However, the overall result was still not in his favor, since the cost of operating the ship exceeded the price of the saved energy. In June 1989, Cousteau took charge of the Académie française, almost simultaneously leaving his duties as director of the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco.


In December 1990, Simone Cousteau died suddenly, whom everyone who knew this woman closely affectionately called the "shepherdess." Her calm disposition, of course, influenced the character of Captain Cousteau. Simone's ashes were scattered over the sea off the coast of Monaco. Cousteau married a second time at the end of June 1991 to Francine Triplet, mother of Diana and Pierre-Yves Cousteau. Prior to this, Francine and Cousteau had a secret romance for 14 years. Jacques Yves Cousteau was 80 at the time.

The complex connections between the numerous societies founded by Cousteau sometimes served as a tempting bait for lovers of fishing in muddy water. Tax services were more and more persistently interested in the management of a number of organizations. In particular, in the United States, the Cousteau Society was arrested for not providing invoices, for illegal recruitment into its ranks by mail, not provided for by law. Some divisions of society are so confused in their relationship with the law that their activities ended in the confiscation of property. Nevertheless, no one encroached on the honest name of Cousteau himself.

Jacques-Yves Cousteau died on June 25, 1997 of a myocardial infarction as a result of a complication of a respiratory disease and was buried in the family plot in the Saint-André-de-Cubzac cemetery.
In 2010, a documentary was made about Jacques Yves Cousteau Film Citizen of the Ocean.

Some quotes from the Commodore - Jacques Yves Cousteau, which became famous.

If we obeyed logic, our future would be sad. There are things more important than logic, because we are people, and we have faith, hope, and we know how to work.

We rule our Earth carelessly.

Childhood is the busiest period of life

Pioneers are driven by curiosity, followed by science.

Unhappiness is ourselves, and happiness is others.

The happiness of a bee or a dolphin is to exist. For a person, happiness is knowing that you exist and being delighted with this fact.

One must love life, even in the most unattractive forms.

If a person has the opportunity to unusual life he has no right to refuse it.

IN market economy everything has a price, but nothing has a value.

Only impossible tasks are successful.

A good ecologist is a type who sees far ahead and does not really believe in progress, science and technology.

Used materials:

Site materials www.j-cousteau.ru
Site materials www.octopus.ru

Historical reference

Jacques Yves Cousteau is our contemporary, not a medieval explorer. This man did not become a discoverer, but he created a device that provided the opportunity to see the underwater world. Jacques-Yves Cousteau invented several different technical devices during his life, but scuba gear is considered the most important for all human civilization.

Jacques was born in 1910 in a small town near Bordeaux. His father was engaged in commerce, traveled abroad a lot. This gave little Jacques the opportunity, in addition to his native language, to quickly master German and English languages. Nomadic life had a negative impact on Cousteau's education, however, to everyone's amazement, he passed the exams perfectly and entered the Naval Academy. He even had a chance to circumnavigate the world, but the thought of traveling, especially underwater, then did not occur to him.

A car accident changed everything. Jacques wanted to become a naval pilot, but the doctors, after a long course of treatment, put an end to aviation. Cousteau completed his studies and became naval officer. During the next summer bathing, Jacques Yves Cousteau noticed severe eye irritation from sea ​​salt. Then the idea came to him to create special glasses, plunging with which, he first saw the underwater world. From that moment on, Cousteau's life changed. He fell in love deep sea environment and set out to bring this beauty to the world. However, without oxygen, it is impossible to hold out for a long time, and there was no modern cinema equipment yet.

During the war, Jacques had to conduct reconnaissance and underground activities, the cover of which was underwater research. In such conditions, after repeated risky attempts, the first scuba gear appeared, or, as the inventor called it, “underwater lung”.

Significance for modern times

Jacques Cousteau is known not only as the creator of the main diving apparatus, but also as an active member of the French Resistance. After the war, he remained in the service and proposed to create a new device for diving to the bottom of the sea - a bathyscaphe. The leadership of the fleet went forward, but did it too delicately - Cousteau went on vacation and, in fact, with the money of the sponsor he found himself, created the famous floating laboratory Callisto and the first Deniz submersible. With the help of these devices, many films were shot, which for the first time on world screens demonstrated the extraordinary beauty of the underwater world. Perhaps these shots, which were later seen by millions of people, prompted the most enterprising to organize a popular tourist activity - diving.

Many lovers sea ​​depths travel the world, and in their luggage is a scuba gear created by Cousteau. Diving is rather a symbiosis of travel, sports and recreation. The most popular diving destinations are Bali, Thailand, Turkey, and Egypt. The Red Sea is very popular due to the interesting objects for which diving takes place, the excellent climate, developed infrastructure and the affordability of air travel.

All this came to us thanks to the creation of scuba gear by Jacques Yves Cousteau. He gathered not only a team of like-minded people, he fascinated his entire family with this business. His sons became followers of the study of the underwater world and conservation environment. Repeatedly, Jacques made appeals to the leadership of the countries-owners nuclear weapons stop disposing of radioactive waste at sea, but little has changed since then.

Conclusion

Jacques-Yves Cousteau died on June 25, 1997 at the age of 87, the cause of death was a myocardial infarction. In his life there was also a new love after the death of his wife, two more children. He was appointed director of the oceanographic museum, but few people know about these facts. Jacques Yves Cousteau is known to the world as the creator of scuba gear, and the rest seems to be attached to his life.

Jacques-Yves Cousteau - French explorer of the oceans, director of popular science films "Underwater Odyssey", inventor of scuba gear, author of many books about the underwater world. Friends and acquaintances called him Captain Cousteau. In general, it can be argued that the work of this person opened the "blue continent" for many people.

Oceanologist Jacques-Yves Cousteau

Jacques-Yves was born in the suburbs of Bordeaux, in a small town called Saint-André-de-Cubzac. His father Daniel was a lawyer known throughout the country as the youngest lawyer to receive a doctorate. The boy's mother, Elizabeth, came from a family of pharmacists, but she herself was engaged in housekeeping and raising Jacques-Yves and his older brother Pierre-Antoine.

The family lived permanently in Paris, but traveled a lot. While relaxing at sea, Cousteau Jr. learned to swim and fell in love with the water forever. By the way, at the age of 7, the child was diagnosed with an incurable chronic enteritis, due to which he remained more than thin for the rest of his life.


After the First World War, the Cousteau family moved to the United States, where Jacques-Yves became interested in mechanics and invention, and also made his first dive under water. After returning to Paris, the 13-year-old boy built a working model car, the engine of which was powered by a battery, and also began filming the world around him with his own movie camera.

The teenager was interested in so many things that he simply did not have time for school lessons. Therefore, the parents sent their son to a closed boarding school, which he graduated with honors.

Then there was the Naval Academy and service in Shanghai. One day he saw diving goggles in a roadside shop. Having tried them, Jacques-Yves realized what he was going to devote his life to.

Movies and books

In the early 1950s, Jacques-Yves Cousteau rented an old decommissioned minesweeper from the British Royal Navy, named it "Calypso" and began exploring the ocean. The expedition resulted in the popular science book "In the World of Silence", published in 1953. She brought Cousteau worldwide recognition, and the film, based on her motives, instantly made him a legend in the documentary genre. The painting "In the World of Silence" was awarded the Oscar and the Palme d'Or.


The debut film was followed by such tapes as "Golden Fish" and "World Without Sun", and then the series "Underwater Odyssey of the Cousteau Team" appeared, which was released on screens for a total of 20 years. In addition to him, Jacques-Yves made such cycles of films about the oceans, seas, rivers and their inhabitants, such as "Oasis in Space", "Adventures in North America”, “Amazon”, “Rediscovery of the World” and many others.

These films were a huge success, as they allowed people to look into places that are usually inaccessible to them. But not all experts approved of Cousteau's work. He has been repeatedly criticized for being pseudo-scientific and especially for his mistreatment of fish.


So, his colleague Wolfgang Auer argued that many of the killings and cruelties to fish were targeted and were done by Cousteau for high-quality shots in his films. Also, sometimes Jacques-Yves was accused of fake footage, for example, the exit of people from the bathyscaphe into a deep-sea cave, where the atmosphere is usually unbreathable.

inventions

At first, Jacques-Yves Cousteau dived under water using a mask and snorkel, but then he, together with his friend Emile Gagnan, developed a device that allows you to breathe deep under water. The first scuba gear in the world was tested by him in 1938 and helped not only Cousteau, but also many scientists to better understand the underwater world.


Today, probably, shooting underwater does not look like something supernatural, but before Jacques-Yves, no one could have imagined this. It was he who developed the waterproof camera and lighting device, and later made the first television system capable of shooting video at great depths.

Also, the French researcher owns the theory that porpoises have a phenomenal ability to echolocation, that is, these animals feel the best way through the expanses of water. This theory was later proven by professional biologists.


And thanks to his popular science books and films, Cousteau became the progenitor of a new way of television communication - divulgationism, that is, the exchange of opinions between professionals and an audience of ordinary people who are interested. Today, all modern talk shows and other television projects are built using this technology, for which, again, the French oceanographer must be thanked.

Personal life

The first time Jacques-Yves Cousteau married in 1937 Simone Melchior, daughter of the legendary French admiral. Simone took part in most of her husband's expeditions, and the team of the minesweeper "Calypso" came up with the affectionate nickname "Shepherdess" for her.


The couple had two sons - Jean-Michel and Philippe, who died in 1979 during the crash of the Catalina plane. After this tragedy, the relationship between Jacques-Yves and Simone went wrong. They began to live separately, but never officially divorced.

When Simone Melchior died of cancer in 1991, Cousteau married Francine Triplet, with whom he had lived for more than 10 years by that time and raised common children - daughter Diana and son Pierre.


By the way, because of his remarriage, his relationship with his eldest son Jean-Michel finally deteriorated, and he even judicial order forbade him to use the name Cousteau for his commercial activities.

Death

Jacques-Yves Cousteau died on June 25, 1997 from a myocardial infarction. The burial of the body of the great scientist was carried out on a family plot in the cemetery of Saint-Andre-de-Cubzac, where all his ancestors are buried. But his research activities did not stop. The Cousteau Team founded by him still operates today.


Interestingly, the memory of Jacques-Yves Cousteau is captured not only in France, but also in Russia. For example, one of general education schools Petersburg with in-depth study of the French language is named after him.

Filmography

  • 1956 - "In the world of silence"
  • 1958 - "Goldfish"
  • 1965 - "World without the sun"
  • 1966-1985 - "Underwater odyssey of the Cousteau team"
  • 1975 - "Journey to the End of the World"
  • 1977 - "Oasis in Space"
  • 1981-1982 - "Adventure in North America"
  • 1982-1985 - "Amazon"
  • 1986-1999 - "Rediscovery of the World"
  • 1995 - "The Legend of Calypso"

Bibliography

  • 1953 - "In the world of silence"
  • 1963 - "The Living Sea"
  • 1965 - "World without the sun"
  • 1970 - Shark: The Brilliant Barbarian of the Seas
  • 1971 - "Life and Death of Corals"
  • 1972 - "The Mighty Lord of the Seas"
  • 1975 - Dolphins
  • 1979 - Life at the End of the Earth
  • 1984 - Jacques Cousteau's Journey to the Amazon
  • 1985 - "Jacques Cousteau: Ocean World"

Jacques-Yves Cousteau was born on June 11, 1910 in Saint-André-de-Cubzac, near Bordeaux, in the family of a lawyer Daniel and Elisabeth Cousteau.

In 1930 he joined the navy as head of an underwater research group.

In 1933, Cousteau graduated from the French Naval Academy and received the rank of lieutenant. He dreamed of a naval career, saw himself as a captain of a military cruiser. Cousteau was assigned to the training ship Joan of Arc, on which he managed to sail around the world.

However, in 1936, he was in a car accident that closed the path forever. military career Cousteau. During an extended period of rehabilitation, Cousteau invented diving goggles.

In 1937 he married Simone Melihor, who had two sons, Jean-Michel (1938) and Philippe (1940).

In 1937, Cousteau met Philippe Taye, a naval officer, poet, humanist, and a man in love with the sea. It was he who became for Cousteau the "godfather" in free diving. From the moment they met, Cousteau forever devotes himself to the knowledge of the secrets of the underwater world. Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Philippe Taye and Frederic Dumas, who soon joined them, have been almost inseparable ever since - they were even nicknamed the "Three Musketeers". They dive, looking for a way to extend their stay under water using all means known to them.

In 1943, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, together with Emile Gagnan, invented an apparatus designed to breathe underwater - the first scuba gear.

During World War II, Jacques-Yves Cousteau served in the artillery as a machine gunner and at the end of the war was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor for his active participation in the anti-fascist partisan struggle.

During the war years, Cousteau began to engage in underwater filming and the creation of research documentaries based on their own materials. After the defeat of Germany, Cousteau founded and headed the Undersea Research Group.

Already in 1946 it was started industrial production scuba gear. Cousteau's passion for scuba diving and exploring the ocean depths prompted him to other discoveries: he came up with an "underwater saucer" - a small maneuverable submarine, as well as different kinds underwater video cameras.

As early as 1948, Cousteau became captain of a corvette, and in 1950 he acquired a decommissioned British destroyer and converted it into a floating research laboratory that became known worldwide as the Calypso. It was on this legendary ship that Cousteau and his crew repeatedly made world travel, explored marine flora and fauna, made unique recordings, filming, photographs. The first achievements of the Calypso team include extensive underwater archaeological research and photography of the seabed at a depth of 7250 m.

In 1956, Jacques-Yves Cousteau retired from Naval Forces France with the rank of captain and took over as director of the Oceanographic Institute and Museum in Monaco.

In 1974, the Cousteau Society was founded, a non-profit research organization whose main goal is to protect the world's oceans.

Simone Cousteau died suddenly in December 1990. Only she alone could influence the explosive character of Captain Cousteau. The ashes of Simone were scattered over the sea off the coast of Monaco.

In 1991, a year after his wife Simone's death from cancer, he married Francine Triplet. By that time, they already had a daughter, Diana (1980) and a son, Pierre (1982), born before marriage.

Jacques-Yves Cousteau died in Paris on June 25, 1997 at the age of 87 from a myocardial infarction as a result of a complication of a respiratory disease. He was buried in the family plot in the cemetery of Saint-André-de-Cubzac.

After the death of Captain Cousteau, the Cousteau Society and the Ocean Future Society created by Jean-Michel Cousteau remained the successors of his work.